In the Beginning

Posted on | May 20, 2009 | No Comments

So I started a new blog. Obviously.

I started blogging in graduate school, but I finished in December 2008, so I now have a lot more time on my hands. I’ve been reading a lot of great blogs lately (see my Good Reads list for examples, but I’ll single out three: Essential Prose, Halfway to Normal and Intersected) and I kept reading these fantastic posts. I also found that I had a lot to say when I commented on other people’s blogs and in general.

Thus, Ordinary Mer was born – my own little corner of the Internets. Why Ordinary Mer? Well, for a few reasons: I’m Mer, short for Meredith (don’t even think about calling me Merry) and I think I’m pretty ordinary. My mom would probably argue otherwise, but I think my ordinary-ness is a good thing. Then, there’s the initials of the blog name: OM.

Maybe it was a coincidence, a happy accident, or fate, but OM is Om – the sacred syllable, symbol and sound in Hinduism. Om represents Brahman, Hinduism’s version of the absolute – omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient. As humans, we can’t comprehend Brahman, so the Om symbol becomes a way for us to recognize and understand the Unknowable. Om is simultanesouly sacred and everyday.

I’m not Hindu, but theology is something that fascinates me and I wear an Om pendant almost every day. I have family ties to India and it’s something I connect with. I thought it was appropriate that, without conscience intent, the abbreviation of my blog was a word and symbol that plays an important part of my life.

So that’s what I’m going to try to do – make Ordinary Mer my very own Om, my own way of recognizing and understanding the unknowable things in my life. It’s ordinary and everyday, because it’s just a blog, but it’s also a little bit sacred. It’s my place on the Internet to sort through all the things in my life and in my head.

I’ll probably end up writing about anything and everything. Chances are good that I’ll be referencing other bloggers often, as they are much, much better at this than I am. I’ve also got a list I’m working on, but I’ll tell you about that later.

So enjoy. I’ll do my best.

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